Health Center director a finalist of VNA’s Super Star in Community Nursing AwardChicago (Oct. 28, 2008) Saint Xavier University Health Center Director Monica Ryan DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, was named a finalist for the VNA Foundation’s 2008 Super Star in Community Nursing Award.
Ryan, an assistant nursing professor at SXU, received a $5,000 award and recognition for the establishment of and her dedication to the SXU Health Clinic.
The VNA Foundation, formerly the Visiting Nurse Association Foundation, gives financial support to nonprofit organizations offering home- and community-based care to the medically underserved. The Super Star Award was introduced in 2001 to acknowledge the service that public health/community health nurses provide, recognize the value of nursing in the community, help attract young people to the profession and contribute to efforts to decrease the nursing shortage.
Ryan ensures SXU’s Health Center offers high quality care for students while keeping the costs low. Unlike most university student health centers, Ryan designed SXU’s to also serve members of the surrounding community, including the underinsured and uninsured.
The center has established partnerships with a number of schools, healthcare providers, governmental bodies and community organizations. Ryan distributes an annual newsletter that outlines the services at the SXU Health Center and reaches more than 70 local schools. She also developed a relationship with Chicago 19th Ward Ald. Ginger Rugai’s office and recently provided dental services, skin cancer screenings and flu shots.
“I feel privileged to be in the company of the other VNA award winners,” Ryan said, “I am humbled by an award like this and grateful to the VNA Foundation for honoring nurses that dedicate their lives to helping others in their communities. My hope is that this will encourage more young people to pursue public health nursing and give back to their communities where support is so desperately needed.”
Ryan has received several grants from organizations to support community outreach initiatives through the SXU Health Center. These include funds from the AT&T Foundation to expand community outreach; the Agatha O’Brien Ministry Fund of the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Chicago to develop a specialist referral network for health center clients; and a grant from the VNA Foundation to establish a health clinic at St. Margaret of Scotland Elementary School in Chicago’s Washington Heights neighborhood.
-SXU-
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Rick Ducat
773-298-3325 or ducat@sxu.edu
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